Defining Information Governance: An Exploration with Industry Experts

Approach

How do you define the new approach to information governance?

From James Lappin: In recent years, the IG industry has shifted and evolved a new set of practices, tools and initiatives. End users are overloaded with correspondence and documentation with information chucked at them, mostly through email, but also through other channels. Expecting individuals to coordinate with colleagues and come up with a universal filing system is not achievable. Instead, the new IG approach makes more pragmatic decisions, given information is accumulating in different ways, e.g., SharePoint, email, line-of-business communication. Companies on an individual basis are now striking a balance regarding their IG needs. Where some companies prioritize a governance process that allows them to manage litigation requests in reasonable time frame, others require a program that goes into greater depth to keep governance frameworks and apply them across different repositories (email, SharePoint, etc.).

As digital information grows, so do the challenges and burdens of managing this mountain of data. Until recently, much of the industry has been focused on applying principles used to manage physical records, but they are now realizing that records management is no longer a sufficient solution. Companies are only now beginning to understand the importance of having an information governance program to manage electronically stored information across their organization as they drive new standards, controls, processes, disciplines and corporate objectives. This natural evolution to encompass a wide array of features and capabilities will continue to change the way that companies maintain their documents and ensure compliance across the organization and within their vertical industries.

RSD recently developed a monthly blog segment titled Influencer’s Corner where the team sits down with the industry’s top influencers to discuss all that is happening in the world of information governance. To kick this off, the RSD team recently spoke with the following industry influencers to discuss their thoughts on the current state of the information governance market, misconceptions, advice for companies looking to embark on information governance projects and industry predictions for 2015.

Influencers include:

Chris Walker, father of the Principals of Holistic Information Governance, an independent consultant and an analyst with Digital Clarity Group

Bassam Zarkout, CTO of RSD, is a thought leader in the information governance space (conception, design, development and implementation), a frequent speaker at key industry events and a 20 year Information Governance veteran

James Lappin, an independent records management consultant and trainer